Not Really Another Liebster Award

I wasn’t actually nominated for this (hence the title of the post), but rather decided to take Inkbiotic up on her request, since it’s for “anyone who fancies answering them,” and I’m an anyone! I think one of two questions were to my liking, and I figured I could muddle through the rest, so without further ado…

1). When was the last time you laughed? What at? – My husband is currently playing Destiny, and he was giving instructions to his team members on how they were going to do the raid. It reminded me of the infamous “Leroy Jenkins” video, and I started laughing my ass off.

“At least I have chicken.” Classic.

2). What’s the weather like where you are? How does it affect you? – It’s been more fall like weather (probably because it’s September), but it was a bit more humid today. My allergies are starting to bother me, which means my face and nose are itchy. I tend to suffer worse in the autumn and winter months. I don’t know what I’m allergic to though. Should probably figure that out at some point.

3). What thoughts keep you awake at night? – Am I dying? No really. I have all these stupid health problems with more cropping up. During the day I’m logical and calm, but at night that wall is more wobbly so I wonder if my quietus is coming. I usually have to poke my logic circuits at 3 in the morning and avoid checking WebMD.

4). What conversations do you avoid? – Hm, well, if they ever come up, I’ll let you know I don’t like talking about them 😉

5). If you were invisible for a week, what would you do? – I’d probably see a lot of free movies, and I’d make sure I sat next to someone, because people tend to avoid doing that, and there’s a better chance I wouldn’t be sat on…hopefully. If it did happy, I’m very squishy, so I’d make a comfortable seat 😀 I could also drive around and make people think my car was one of those self-driving Google contraptions. There’s some more nefarious things I’d do, but since I don’t want to be held culpable if I ever discover the secret to invisibility, I’ll leave off here *wink*

6). What’s the oddest thing you’ve ever seen? (Things on the internet don’t count) – I’m blanking on this one. I’ve been to quite a few crazy parties, but I don’t think a bunch of people making out is all that odd.

7). If you could live the life of any character in a novel, who would it be?– I wouldn’t mind being Tuf from George R R Martin’s Tuf Voyaging. I remember thinking how awesome it would be to cruise the cosmos in my own spaceship filled with cats. I hesitate to say Feyre from Sarah J. Maas’s A Court of Thorns and Roses series only because she went through a ton of grief to get her ultra happy ending, but Rhys’s inner circle is pretty boss.

8). When do you feel most alive? – When I’m writing; when I’m reading something amazing like Laini Taylor’s Strange the Dreamer; when people understand what Final Fantasy VII means to me, comprehend the depths of its symbolism, and have discussions with me about it; when I experience sehnsucht, and I wonder if reality will ever mimic it.

9) You can have a penfriend from any time in history, who would it be? What kind of letters would you write? – Someone who was a librarian in the Great Library of Alexandria. I’d want to know all about the books therein, and I would tell them my favorite stories from this era.

10). Do you ever feel like you haven’t a clue what you’re doing and you’re about to be found out? What makes you feel like that? – This is my natural state 😀 I’m pretty sure I’m just bumbling through like everyone else. I’m also pretty sure I have Imposter Syndrome, and I often wonder if I’m wasting my time with my essays and writing, but thankfully those moments are fairly brief by now. I’ve discovered ways to move them along and realize the catalyst for them is often things I’ve heard/read in my past that are invalidating.

11). Would you like your home country to introduce basic income (everybody gets paid enough to live on whether they work or not)? How would it change your life? – Yes, I would. I’m a bit of a socialist insofar as I think basic needs (food, water, shelter, health/medical care, clothing) should be provided for a host of reasons. I’m not saying that people should be given mansions and Banana Republic, but poverty has little to nothing to do with laziness and much more to do with an unfair and unbalanced system.

I don’t completely hate capitalism, but I dislike the stranglehold it currently has on society. Competition can be a wonderful thing, and I’m drawn back to a conversation I had with The Well-Red Mage about the Nintendo vs. Sega saga that occurred in the 80s/early 90s while I was growing up. It gave us some of the best video games in the business and could very well have been the catalyst if not responsible for the golden age of gaming that we 80s/90s kids enjoyed. However, when it comes to completing in a contest you have the neither the equipment nor the ability to win, I don’t think that should be a death sentence. While we obviously do have some safety nets in my country, they’re imperfect and far too many people fall between the cracks.

Whew! Well, I hope this doesn’t start a vicious debate. If there was a basic income, I’m not entirely sure I’d quit my job, because I actually do like it (problem solving and Excel FTW!) but if I did, I’d be far from idle, which I can prove in what I’ve done on my mandatory two weeks vacation. I’d write. I’d write (and edit) stories, essays, reviews, and other things. I’d create slideshows, videos, audio reviews, and start doing BookTube. I’d stream video games and do LPs. I’d actually be more productive than I am right now and would more than likely eventually start to make money in a capitalistic sense. Ideally, if I had time to write/edit my story ideas, I’d eventually come across publication options. In short I’d have more time for my artistic pursuits. I’d probably get a job at a bookstore, since that’s always been one of my dreams. I’d go back to school and study languages: Latin, German, Spanish, and brush up on my French; theology, astrophysics, maybe law, and music; learn to play violin, cello, the harp, flute, guitar, take piano lessons again, etc. I’d pretty much become a full time writer and professional student; finally make a dent in my book and gaming backlog, and be much less stressed about time.

Well that wasn’t too painful or time consuming. Here are my 11 questions, which you can answer if you wish in any way you wish: in the comments or in your own blog post!

When you read do you visualize characters and settings? As in do the words create images in your mind?

What’s your favorite kind of tea?

What’s the best game you’ve played or watched this year so far?

What’s the best book you’ve read this year so far?

Do you prefer to watch a show one episode at a time or binge watch?

Do you prefer “people” names for pets or “non-people” names (I’m genuinely surprised at how many people are annoyed by the former)?

What would you change your eye color to if you could?

Do you tan or burn (FYI don’t tan. It’s terrible for you – PSA)?

What’s your fictional/fantasy job, as in, what your job be if you lived in a fictional/fantasy world (I’d be a lounge singer assassin)?

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24 thoughts on “Not Really Another Liebster Award”

Fully agreed on the socialist point. Everyone deserves to have a decent wage to live off. 1% of the world living in luxury whilst everyone else slaves away skint is ridiculous. All of the rich people I know are miserably miserly, too, but I guess this is probably how you get rich. I prefer to be magnanimous and groovy.

But say you’re a socialist in a crowded room, and you better be ready to run for your life! It’s like starting a flame war on an internet page o.O I agree! I’d rather share the nothing I have with those near and dear. While it might be fun to eat a pizza all by yourself, it’s way better to share it with friends…then lose to them in Mario Kart. At least you have people to go Karting with!

A lot of people just don’t know what socialism is – “socialism IS totalitarianism” is what someone wrote at me online once. It doesn’t suit their agenda, so they don’t look up what the fundamental principles are: forging a better life for everyone. Democratic socialism would work well, I think, although it might block some from becoming super rich. That would be horrible.

Anyway, let’s see if we can Mario Kart it soon! I’ll Tweet DM you. Aiiiiiie.

I love the way you’ve got your cinema sneaking all planned out! 🙂 Thank you for introducing me to Sehnsucht, I think this is a feeling that drives my life, not sure I’d be able to function without it. Now that I’ve been drawn out of hiding, I’m feeling inspired to answer your questions, cos they’re ace…

It just made the most sense! I was thinking “rob a bank,” but I feel like everyone picks that, plus I wouldn’t want some poor teller to get in trouble. Sneaking into a film wouldn’t hurt anyone unless someone tripped over me :p

It was a revelation the day I found that word. I’d always known what that feeling was, but never knew it’s name. That’s an awesome list floating around online of words from other languages for concepts that aren’t easily translatable, but since all humans are generally capable of the same feelings, all of them make sense 🙂

Don’t… remind me about… World of Warcraft…. I CAN’T go back to Azeroth *sobs uncontrollably*

That “Am I dying?” thing drove me to some dark places, let me tell you. I’m at peace with it now (all thanks to my pink haired shero). Fate will claim us all one day and nothing can ever change that. It’s what we do with our lives that matters. Keep enjoying every precious moment, and keep doing everything you can to make this world a better place 🙂 And I totally agree with your basic wage stance.

Yay, questions:
1) Yes I do. I get annoyed when the book’s movie does not share my vision, haha.
2) Chocolate Orange
3) Dragon Age Origins
4) The Hunger Games Trilogy
5) One at a time
6) It honestly doesn’t matter to me. My cats are named Stewart and Thumper, haha.
7) Blue to match Lightning’s
8) Burn. I stay away from the sun, haha.
9) I’d love to be a one woman army, knight of a goddess, and/or badass savior of a dying world.
10) Eden, the capital city of Cocoon in FFXIII.
11) Ellen isn’t even close to being as cool as LightningEllen pretends to be.

It’s honestly become just a random question now, because I’m a Morbid Mary hehe. Well, I at least have a pretty morbid sense of humor. My husband will just look at me blankly then I know I’ve gone too dark :p

Right?? It just makes sense to me to provide people with basic needs. Of course there will be people who’ll be satisfied with just the basics, but honestly who cares? There are people today are are way more of a drain on the system, and they’re definitely not the people some think. I’d also like a better educated populace. It would make it WAY easier to have discussions 😀

*looks up questions again*
1. Oh goodness, me too. It’s why I was so pleased with Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter (for most of it). Game of Thrones was 50/50. Some of the characters were dead on, while others were completely not.
2. That’s an interesting flavor! I’m like Captain Picard with my Earl Grey Hot 😀
3. It’s probably SOMA because that game scared the hell out of me and made me think. The Last of Us is up there, too.
4. I’m not surprised as all given how Katniss is very similar to a pink haired bad ass XD
5. Oh you like living dangerously! I’m very impatient so I like to binge watch. If an episode has a cliffhanger, I’ll go immediately to the next.
6. I just saw something about this on the Book o’ Faces and thought it was kind of hilarious. The examples they had were “Switchboard and Gary.” It reminded me of the Aerith and Bob trope, which is brilliantly lampshaded in Men in Black with that one alien’s ridiculous name and (literally) Bob.
8. GOOD.
9. Hmmm I WONDER WHY???? 😀 😉
10. Ohhh, that’s clever it’s called Eden and it’s dystopian *interest growing*
11. TSN is way more suave than Adrienne. TSN is adorably awkward; Adrienne trips over her own feet, says some words weirdly like “integral” and “pious,” and talks herself at work…CONSTANTLY. Though I think most people are just kind of awkwardly stumbling our way through life, bumping into each other, touching random things, setting off alarms, and being startled by them. It’s actually pretty awesome.

I love that everyone here knows what “socialism” actually means, and that it’s not this big, scary thing. Someone once said to me that if people at a burger joint make $15/hour (the livable wage in my area), they’d be making almost as much as me as a therapist. My response was that they still needed to be able to support themselves. Also, if we’re talking about tiered salaries, then they don’t deserve less. I should just be paid more (haha). A functioning society should take care of the people. That’s, you know, what a democracy is supposed to be, isn’t it? A government BY THE PEOPLE AND FOR THE PEOPLE?? *resists rant*

Okay, distracting myself with questions…
1. Sometimes. It doesn’t play like a movie, but I’ll get snippets of imagery if it’s a particularly vivid description. It’s weird because I don’t always see images, so I’m not entirely sure how I retain the information…
2. Sweet tea! Oh, you mean hot tea? Um, maybe chai? Otherwise, I’m a fan of Twinings Breakfast Tea.
3. Usually whatever game I’m playing at the moment is the best game I’ve played all year (haha). Um… Mass Effect was pretty awesome. FF13 is pretty awesome…
4. I haven’t read any fiction novels that stood out to me… How sad is that? Most of my reading this year was non-fiction or articles for my thesis… the Miss Peregrine series was pretty decent, but not like “OMG it’s great!!”
5. I’m okay with one episode at a time. It’s fun to speculate about what comes next.
6. I don’t really care. Most of my pets have had “human” names, but if you really want to name your dog Fluffy McPoodlePants, you go right ahead.
7. Nope. I like my eye color.
8. It takes a lot of time in the sun, but I’ll eventually tan. I guess that’s good because I’m not damaging my skin.
9. Elf. Wait, is that not a profession?? No, seriously. I’d want to be an elf. Sing, make music, and think deep thoughts all day? I’m all over that.
10. Can you believe… I don’t think I’ve played a game with a real “dystopian” city? LightingEllen mentioned Eden, which I haven’t come across in FF13 yet, so… I guess I’ll go with that by default? Unless Oceana from 1984 counts…
11. Insofar as I’m a bit of a nerd, unexpectedly use GRE words every so often, and am a goddess? Yup. (haha). No, I jest. I mean, yeah I’m a bit of a nerd IRL and definitely over-analyze everything, but I think Athena is a touch more confident and seems like she has her act together much more than IRL “Athena” does…

That’s an interesting question, how my blogger persona differs from my real one. Aside from pretending to be a lot smarter online than I am in real life, I don’t think it’s all that different, although I only show a certain side of myself online. I’ve got a lot of personality traits, passions, etc. that I don’t move into my blog, and I really just focus on certain aspects of myself there. I don’t know why I do it, that’s just where it’s comfortable for me. So the personality isn’t all that different, I just only show certain bits of it there.

I really love this answer, and I saw it before I replied to another comment on this and incorporated it into that, because I couldn’t agree more. The me online is just as much me as the me IRL. So if you’re only a troll online, then you have some trollish, bullying nature that you keep hidden for whatever reason more than likely because IRL it’s not going to be tolerated, but the internet has that (false) anonymity. For me, I want to be as authentic as possible and because I’m super empath, I can’t treat people like shit that easily even if I don’t know them, because I wouldn’t want that done to me, and it’s amazing what one comment can do for a person either good or bad.

I can express myself much better in writing than I can verbally, though I’m not TERRIBLE in that way. I just need to be able to have the wherewithal to form a coherent and cohesive answer. I’m not good at thinking of snappy comebacks on the spot, and the internet gives you the opportunity to consider what you’re going to say, and blogging and writing in general allows you to edit your words.

IRL I’m introverted but come off as outgoing because I use small talk to forestall awkward silences lol.

Haha the invisible movie theater seating plan you came up with is genius! 😛 I never sit next to someone I don’t know if I can avoid it, and I always get so weirded out when some random person sits next to me in a practically deserted movie theater. Great answers all around, I especially liked the historical penpal one. 🙂
Cool questions, too. I couldn’t resist answering them, so here’s mine:

1. When you read do you visualize characters and settings? As in do the words create images in your mind?
Answer: Yeah, I usually come up with some visuals in my head for what I think people and places look like, just like when I’m writing myself, but if it’s something I’ve seen a show or film for, I’ll admit my lazy brain just pictures those actors after that. 😛

2. What’s your favorite kind of tea?
Answer: Chai

3. What’s the best game you’ve played or watched this year so far?
Answer: As far as ones I’ve played, I really haven’t played many at all, but I’d say Shovel Knight. And for ones I’ve watched, Horizon Zero Dawn. 🙂

4. What’s the best book you’ve read this year so far?
Answer: Oh jeez, um, Six of Crows I’m thinking? That was just a really good read all around. 🙂

5. Do you prefer to watch a show one episode at a time or binge watch?
Answer: Depends on my attention span at the time. Sometimes I can binge watch like it’s nobody’s business, but other times I can barely sit through a single episode no matter how good the story is.

6. Do you prefer “people” names for pets or “non-people” names (I’m genuinely surprised at how many people are annoyed by the former)?
Answer: I think it depends on the pet. Either way is fine by me so long as the name suits them. 🙂

7. What would you change your eye color to if you could?
Answer: Haha I feel like I have an unfair advantage in this question because my eyes already do change colors. They can be green, blue, or grey, and any combination. They just never turn brown, so I guess it would be cool to see what I’d look like with brown eyes, but otherwise I’m pretty happy with my eyes. 🙂

8. Do you tan or burn (FYI don’t tan. It’s terrible for you – PSA)?
Answer: I burn. In minutes. It’s terrible. lol C&M and I are in the same boat in this category, so any time we’re gonna be outside for a bit we plaster on the sunblock.

9. What’s your fictional/fantasy job, as in, what your job be if you lived in a fictional/fantasy world (I’d be a lounge singer assassin)?
Answer: Oooh, interesting question… hmmm . . . I think I’d want to care for mythological beasties.

Me neither! There’s something called social etiquette, and I don’t know why anyone would want to sit next to someone they didn’t know. It usually only happens if the theater is sold out and there’s no choice in the matter, but even then I’m a little weird about it. I’d have to make sure I was there when it wasn’t very crowded. You HAVE to plan these things lol.

Yasss, I love that people are answering my questions. I honestly just thought of them off the top of my head lol.

I’ve actually heard of people who don’t see anything when they read, but they still enjoy it. It’s interesting to think that there are people who literally just see words on a page without the visual, but everyone is different! I actually wonder if the people who don’t like to read have this experience, and they don’t like it so they don’t like to read.

HZD is on my play next list for the PS4 after I finish FF Type-0! I want to play FFXIII next, but since XIII is for the PS3, I could play both concurrently. I want to at least start FFXIII before the end of this year and I’ bought HZD the same time as Type-0.

Yuuuup, I’m the same way with shows. If it’s REALLY interesting and I’m not too tired or busy, I could binge watch an entire season. Stranger Things is one of those shows I watched all of in a few nights. I think I watched two episodes per night for two nights then I watched the remaining four on the third night, which was a Friday. I can’t wait for Season 2!

I love how the grass is always greener with the eye color thing hehe, and I’d pick green :p I have green contacts and also green cat eye contacts that are for costuming/cosplay. They’re my prescription, too. I don’t even want to talk about how expensive they were…

One of my IRL BFF is the same way. She burns very easily. I don’t burn, one of the advantages of being naturally melaninated haha, but I have super sensitive skin so if I’m out in the sun too long without protection, I’ll break out. I still freaking have a spot on my arm that occurred the beginning of the summer. I also have very light sensitive eyes, soooo it’s probably better that they’re not blue/green :p

You could work with Newt Scamander!

I feel like I’m more…I don’t know, I can’t explain it with blogging. I don’t want to say more myself, because IRL me is me, too. With the blog I feel like my awkwardness is more adorable lol, but I think I’m pretty adorkable in real life, too. I’m pretty good at reading social scenes so I either know how to act or know how to not act if that makes any sense so if I’m being weird, it’s just seen as being nervous. I used to be SO socially inept when I was younger, and I hated the way that felt so I think I’m really neurotic about it now.

That’s a really interesting theory about the people who don’t visualize anything while reading! I’d never thought of that before!
I can’t wait for Season 2 of Stranger Things, either. 😀 That show is totally binge-worthy.
That’s nice that you got to a point where you can navigate social situations like that. 🙂 I try, and I’m always friendly, but I just tend to be so dang quiet and nervous. I hate it. It’s like I’m literally terrified to speak in front of people I’m not super comfortable around. And what makes it hard is that no matter how nice, or how much I like the person, I still might be like that for a long time. It’s so frustrating. I’m glad more and more people are talking about things like anxiety so more people are becoming aware of what it’s like for some people.

I eventually run out of steam and then wind up on a couch looking at my phone smiling if people try to talk to me. I only have so much social mana to spend lol.

Oh god me, too. When I was growing up, I didn’t even know what anxiety was an a condition, and I was told I was “too sensitive” *rolls eyes* Took me many years to realize how that’s complete bullshit, and it still bothers me to this day, but it’s so much better that I know more hypersensitive folks to help validate.